TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The 2017 Eid Holiday has not yet shown any signs of boosting the domestic retail industry growth following a decline during the first semester of 2017.
Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo) chairman Roy Monday explained that Eid Day should have been the lucrative season for both modern and traditional retailers. In reality, the business sector continues to endure a steady decline.
“Indonesia’s retail sales data is currently under performing. There was a 35-40 percent drop in May 2017 when compared to the previous year,” Roy said on Thursday, June 29.
The retail industry only managed to grow by 4.1 percent in April and continued to drop by 3.6 percent in the following month.
Roy explained that the similar situation occurred in 2009. He predicted that the public’s purchasing power has not yet fully recovered. People, Roy added, are mostly spending their money on basic needs.
Roy estimated that the trend was not caused by the competition between rivals, instead is mainly caused by public’s consumption that has not fully recovered yet.
“The Eid Holiday has an impact on retailers, even though the increase is significant compared to the previous year. Public’s purchasing power only increased by 10-12 percent this year,” Roy said.
BISNIS.COM